User:Barupatx

After 15 years as a stay-at-home-mom, I returned to education and taught science for 9 years in an alternative high school for at-risk students. I then became the certified librarian at a 2-year-old middle school, built as a high-tech exemplar for the time. Earning my MLIS, I remained there 13½ years and only retired due to health issues.

I’ve loved technology since taking a FORTRAN course in college (long long ago, in a galaxy…no, wait, just long, long ago). At my alternative school I took a few defunct computers and built 2 working ones for a fellow teacher, earning the title “Tech Queen.” I ventured into the original text-only WWW and began creating Web pages. With the arrival of visual editing, I became our district’s Webpage Trainer and presented at a Texas Library Association conference. I continue to keep up with new tech, but the learning curve is much steeper as I get older!

I began blogging in 2005 with BrP Bytes on Blogger. I retired that site in 2015 and created Looking Backward on Edublogs. Now with No Sweat Library, I want to share my acquired knowledge & experience with you, and build a legacy of quality school library information and products.

I strive to see the big picture…how it all fits together…so that I can integrate it for others to more easily understand. I’m a voracious reader of blogs and books related to teaching, educational technology, and school libraries, so that the information I share is relevant for the current educational climate.

“barupa” has been my online moniker since 1991, created with the first 2 letters of my first, middle, and married names: Barbara Ruth Paciotti. I later added my state of Texas PO abbreviation so you can also find me as barupatx. My students and colleagues call me “Ms. P“—although one of my favorite teachers calls me “The Goddess of All That is Known.”

I usually sign off as… BrP (Not indigestion, just my initials) in the Dallas TX Metroplex, USA You can email me at barupa@gmail.com